Monreal: Ozil and Alexis committed to Arsenal and going nowhere

Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez are “committed” to Arsenal and unlikely to leave the club in January, according to Nacho Monreal.

Both men continue to see their respective futures called into question as they run down their current contracts at Emirates Stadium.

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The pair are set to become free agents in the summer of 2018 unless fresh terms are agreed or winter sales sanctioned.

Manchester rivals City and United have been heavily linked with moves to acquire two highly-rated creative talents, but Monreal insists nobody in the Arsenal camp has been given any indication that the duo will move on.

“The feeling is that they will continue,” the Spanish defender told IBTimes UK.

“At no time have we talked about the possibility of them leaving. Not at all. They are committed to the group and we will see what happens.

“I can't say much about it. It does not depend on me. The situation is clear. They are two vital players for Arsenal. They are two players who end their contracts at the end of the season. 

“If the club want them to stay beyond December [the January transfer window] they will follow. Yet, I do not know the club's intentions. It is other people who are the ones who have to make a decision.”

For now, Arsenal are eager to divert attention away from contract matters off the field and towards their endeavours on it.

A 2-0 derby victory over Tottenham in their last Premier League outing has helped to lift the mood in the red half of north London and Monreal admits the challenge now is to shake off the inconsistencies which have held Arsene Wenger’s side back at times.

He added: “What we all want is for the team to maintain this dynamic in the coming games.

“We are a team that when we are playing well, when we are focused, when we have solidarity... we are very hard. It's tough to play against us.

“It is true that we have this fault: we are a bit inconsistent. We are able to play two, three games at a very high level and then we have a dip.

“If we were more consistent we would be fighting for more things at the end of the season. But the win over Tottenham gives us confidence for the coming games.

"I think we don't have to be obsessed about setting a certain target. We go match by match. The target was to beat Tottenham and now the next one is to do the same in the Europa League [against Koln].

“When the months of January, February arrive, we will see where we are and what we can achieve. We aim to win everything but we cannot become obsessed.

“In previous seasons we arrived at January as Premier League leaders, it seemed that we were going to win the title and in the end we suffered a blow.”